Anybody have a preference as to the best format to render in Maya. I usually use Targa, but only because my instructor said I should. I don't know why - ha ha.

Will J

215 posts

07 Apr 2008

For stills I render into bitmap if I'm doing beauty renders (ie not using render layers,) unless I'm rendering in passes in which case I use targas that I then compile in photoshop (make sure there is no camera environment though, or it wont render the background clear.) If you are rendering in passes with empty areas of the shot make sure you render the alpha channels too by checking the appropriate box in the render settings. For animation most people render into IFF and then import the sequence into after effects or fusion (which is a doddle to use btw.) Hope that helps !

mitm2002

68 posts

07 Apr 2008

Very helpful, Will J, THANKS!

mahmoudnahmad

1,159 posts

07 Apr 2008

maya people grrr

targa png anything with transparency would do just make sure you million colors+ (+ is alpha)

Depends on your final output. I think that .rgb is prob going to be the richest color range you're going to get other than openEXR, and that only really becomes handy for when you're working with things that are shot on film. I NEVER use TIFFs of any sort, they have funky gamma issues and they often are the cause of heartache and sorrow. Tga's are a good bet at 32 bit but save your alpha separate, because most of the time it won't premultiply correctly, it will look ok, but could cause problems down the line with concatenation during compositing. That being said, my two cents is that if you stick with .tga, .rgb, and .exr, you will live long, and the hair on your toes will grow forever.